Fred ROBERTS

Principal / Driver

Fred Roberts founded Roberts Racing / RPM Canada in 2006 and pilots the Direct Energy No.89 car in sprint racing events throughout North America. As team principal and driver, Fred Roberts, has been a long-time auto enthusiast with a passion for motorsports. With the acquisition of the World Challenge Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, Roberts made his wheel-to-wheel racing debut in 2007 in the Viper Racing League with excellent progress throughout the year earning top three in-class finishes in all fifteen events and earning Rookie of the Year for the VRL. As a developing driver with a passion for racing, Roberts is committed to building a competitive professional race team with the help of seasoned professional racing advisors and sponsorship partners.

In 2008 Roberts made his SCCA Pro Racing debut with the MOPAR team running GT class in World Challenge. The team has competed at many tracks throughout North America in several series including the Viper Racing League (VRL), North America Road Racing Association (NARRA), National Auto Sports Association (NASA) and Sports Car Club of America (SCCA Pro Racing). In 2009 Roberts earned many top ten finishes and the World Challenge GT Rookie of the Year award.

Operations

Walter Bobko Jr. has been instrumental in pulling all the pieces together for Roberts Racing. Bobko brings a unique blend of business acumen, analytical and technical skills to Roberts Racing that allows him to manage key aspects of race preparations from ensuring that the Direct Energy No. 89 car is ready for each race day through to a thorough hands-on approach to data acquisition and performance analysis that keeps Roberts Racing competitive. Walter is responsible for coordinating all team support for race day and logistical details.

Crew and Support

Roberts Racing / RPM Canada has brought together some of the best people in the road racing community help run our program. Our team is comprised of both contracted and volunteer based participants that bring a broad spectrum of experience from running factory programs for Dodge and Vipers to engineers and even driver coaches that have impressive backgrounds. Given the geographical nature of the schedule, our operations are run mainly out of the U.S. with forward staging support from friends on the east and west coasts.

Special thanks to Baxter Dodge out of Nebraska and Raceway Chrysler Fiat in Toronto for their generous support.

Coaching and Driver Development

Since the first sitting in a race car, Fred has relied on personal coaches to help develop as a racer. Those coaches include Neil Hannemann. Neil has a long and prestigious career in motor sports in both driver and engineering capacities. In addition to driving to several championships in the SCCA World Challenge series over the past twenty years, Neil has competed in most endurance races including the Daytona 24 hours, 12 Hours of Sebring and worked as chief design engineer for projects such as the Dodge Viper, Saleen S7, Ford GT and most recently, the Mercedes-McLaren SLR. In addition to Neil, Fred has been coached by Tommy Archer, Kenny Wilden and a number of others that were kind enough to help our team.

Family, Friends & Supporters

A heartfelt thanks and acknowledgement to all our families and supporters who have watched this process unfold from the beginning with their words of encouragement and praise. We appreciate all the support and for spreading the news about our team efforts.